Saturday, December 01, 2007

I love filching from hotels. No not towels, linens, curtains or furniture but soaps and sometimes shower caps. Guess it is in my “purani jeans” that I inherited from my great Indian Middle Class brethrens. I am however no cheapo filcher, I carry away body wash and cutesy soap bars only from good and reputed hotels and not from every Days Inn owned by the patel brothers. (The days Inn might have recycled my soap but the better ones definitely trash them and don't re-use them if the wrapper has been torn and the soap sniffed at, so though filching is morally wrong I think I am helping the economy by not letting them throw away tiny unused soaps. God please forgive me)

The little S who according to the in-laws is 60% like my dear sis-in-law and remaining 39.99% like her Dad, the darling Hubby, has inherited the last but not the least 0.01% from me and that is alas the love for Hotel Toileteries. She goes gaga over the little soap bars that the Hotel has, treasures them, brings them back home and uses them on special days.

Now, the hubby who has been travelling extensively the last few weeks, came back home around midnight yesterday. The way he keeps fleeting in and out of the house, you would think it was his in-laws and not mine, who are visiting. But why do I complain, I get peaceful nights to sleep in, without the high pitched snoring that jolts me every now and then, isn’t that what every female wants?

Anyway, knowing little S’s love for those soaps and also because he did not have the time to get her anything, he had filched two white and green soaps from the hotel and gave them to the little girl along with a small stress ball with a lot of hype and excitement. The little girl’s face lit up when she saw them, excited she ran around showing everyone in the household the two precious soaps and the ball. She became benevolent and offered to share one of them with me too. She literally danced around and hugged D for her lovely gifts.

She hadn’t been half as happy seeing the puzzle and the Melissa&Doug magnetic board I got for her from Amazon two weeks back.

It was so beautiful to see her contented and happy with those tiny things. May she remain the same always, happy with what she gets and not asking for more. Amen.

Toor Dal Chutney added to Guacamole as a dip

India is an amazing country with 1.5 billion people, 28 different states, 7 Union Territories, and 1652 different languages.

In a country with such diversity it is not surprising to have a vast difference in cuisines from the North to South, The East to West and basically from each corner to the other.

So while Toor Dal is a must in the South Indian cuisine and hugely celebrated there, it is not often used in the cuisine from the eastern Region. The Moong and the Masoor are the dals which are favored over Toor here. So while my Ma will never ever run out of Moong or masoor, she will have to run out FOR toor if you wish her to cook it on a random day.

Both me & D have developed a love for sambhar however and I do stock Toor Dal in my pantry and also make sambhar often. The other way I make Toor dal is the way a friend from the UP belt taught me. The UP belt also love Toor Dal with dollops of ghee with their chapatti and I love their dal tempered with red-chillies, whole cumin seeds and garlic.

Toor Dal Chutney with Idli

Since I have not tried Toor Dal any other way I wanted to give toor dal chutney a shot and googled thus “toor dal chutney blog”. I came up with this, this and this. So be it, I decided and made a mean toor dal chutney, combining everything I read and things I consider to be a stamp of South Indian Cuisine. Refer to these blogs for exact measurment. This is my entry for JFI-Toor dal hosted by Lovely Linda who blogs at Out Of The Garden

Dry Roasted toor dal and dry red chillies till the toor dal was slightly browned and I could smell the warm aroma. Soaked them in water for 15 minutes.

Heated 1tsp oil and lightly sautéed a clove of garlic.

Put the roasted toor dal, dry red chilies and garlic in a grinder and made a fine wet paste.

Added salt and tasted. It still lacked what I felt was the south Indian flavor

In the 1 tsp of oil added some mustard seeds, a pinch of asafoetida and few curry leaves. Added the seasoning to the paste.

Mmmmmmmm…something still missing

Added a little tamarind paste and a little sugar.

Yes, yes, yes…loved it. Had it with mini rava idlis that I made out of MTR mix. But I loved the chutney by itself too.

Day 3

There was still Toor dal chutney left, no more Idlis and the household kept saying "the chutney was interesting" whatever that meant

Also I had some avocado and had made some guacamole with finely chopped red onions, lots of corriander leaves, green chillies, lime juice, salt and a little olive oil.

Since I was going to send this to the innovative Linda, I thought why not and added the guacamole to the toor dal chutney or vice versa, in 1:1 ratio.

I actually liked the result though the corriander leaves dominated the flavor.

Give it a try if you have both in hand as the next dip for your chip

Trivia: Toor dal or split Pigeon peas is also known as tuvar dal and arhar dal. They contain high levels of protein and the important amino acids methionine, lysine, and tryptophan. The Indian subcontinent, Eastern Africa and Central America, in that order, are the world's three main pigeon pea producing regions.

As always, Sandeepa, a lovely story of your sweet little gal and how I enjoyed reading that! :)

Now for this toor dal chutney, I love how you pieced it together from several sources, and then adding the guacamole in the end, simply awesome!! Next time I make toor dal chutney I am going to use avocado and lime! The photos are really mouthwatering.

LOL! Enjoy your posts as always; especially those little bits of family life served before the main course :-)

Looks like people 'collect' more than the miniature shampoos and soap (I collect the room keycards!) and so some hotels now have a menu of items with prices so you can buy something you like in the room.

You write so well. I enjoyed your post and that story of sweet innocence! Amen, really! May God bless your little one!Toor Daal chutney - is something I've never heard of. But then there are many things I have not heard of and am constantly learning something new from every food blog. Thanks for sharing a wonderful recipe!

Oh mine...what a lovely post. I could picture li'l S dancing around in happiness. Shotti...ki misti Li'l S! So much innocence is possible only in a kid. I like good toiletries from good hotels too. Why let them go into waste when I have seen the housekeeper chuck it off.

Keep up your good writing Sandeepa. I love to read them. Have you considered writing fiction or memoir ? You should give it a try. I promise to buy your book :)

I love your stories of li'l S - and the chutney sounds like a must-try for me. My coconut chutney always turn out awful. will try this next time I make idlid'. BTW, did you use a desi sumeet or Preethi or the american blenders for this chutney? I am trying to decide if I should buy a mixer/grinder from India when I go in Dec - but not sure if my Bong type recipes really need the heavy duty ones from there...

I have a Cuisinart and a magic Bullet. This chutney was done in the Magic Bullet. For my Bong recipes, the Magic Bullet is great with posto, shorshe etc. I do not do heavier grinding than this anywayKobe jachcho India ?

Manasi

And I thought it was a very common chutney and only I didn't know about it

Shn

Yeah it is really nice to see them happy with the small stuff

MusicalYeah I liked it with the guacamole added

SwapnaDon't tell me you don't make this. I thought every one in all 4 states of South India make this chutney

i love all sorts of dal.....(okay i am preferential to Masoor, but i love them all) and toor is what we eat the most at home ......i love your creativity with cooking, Sandeepa.....toor with guacamole...i love that...being no purist myself i totally appreciate these diversions :)

and may your li'l S always have reasons to smile :)

we are still in Florida....moving out in Dec end....the recent floods and storms do not change our plans .......thanks for keeping me in mind, sandeepa :)

We make the parippu chtney here by roasting dal in a little oil,along with red chillies and a clove of garlic.Then grinding along with almost the same amt of cocnut.Minus hing..tamarind pate and curry leaves..These should add to the taste, but! :)

Thanks for your concern. You are very right. Though the snoring is a bit exaggerated (writers license:), there is some snoring but not much. I am very much aware about sleep apnea. One of my friends went for the sleep lab too a month back

I also agree with you about the cholesterol level, it being a little high for the hubby. We try to eat ok, and exercise and go for the annual checks,but genes also play a role in high cholesterol level.

Don't worry we try take as much preventive care as possible but yes maybe we should strive for better.

In fact I am planning to go for a TLC diet for the family from start of next year, lets see

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About Me

Predominantly a Bong, who loves being a Mom and loves to cook among other things for the li'l one and the big ones.She loves to write too and you will find her food spiced up with stories. Mainly a collection of Bengali Recipes with other kinds thrown in, in good measure. A Snapshot of Bengali Cuisine